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Nano Research 2017, 10(11): 3715-3725 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1585-4
Research Article | Issue | Published: 17 July 2017

Redox switch of ionic transport in conductive polypyrrole-engineered unipolar nanofluidic diodes

Show Author's Information Qianqian Zhang1,2,  Zhen Zhang3,  Hangjian Zhou1,  Zhiqiang Xie1,2,  Liping Wen4,  Zhaoyue Liu1( ),  Jin Zhai1( ),  Xungang Diao2
Key Laboratory of Bio-Inspired Smart Interfacial Science and Technology of Ministry of EducationBeijing Key Laboratory of Bio-inspired Energy Materials and DevicesSchool of Chemistry and Environment, Beihang UniversityBeijing100191China
School of Physics and Nuclear Energy EngineeringBeihang UniversityBeijing100191China
Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS)Key Laboratory of Green PrintingInstitute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing100190China
Laboratory of Bioinspired Smart Interfacial ScienceTechnical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing100190China
Keywords:
polypyrrole, redox switch, nanofluidic diodes, ion rectification, ion gating
Cite this article:
Zhang Q, Zhang Z, Zhou H, et al. Redox switch of ionic transport in conductive polypyrrole-engineered unipolar nanofluidic diodes. Nano Research, 2017, 10(11): 3715-3725. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1585-4
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Controlling ion transport in nanoconfined spaces is a key task for the creation of smart nanofluidic devices. In this work, redox-active polypyrrole (PPy) polymers are introduced into anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) nanochannels to form smart unipolar nanofluidic diodes (UNDs) for the first time. The ionic transport behavior of the present polypyrrole-engineered UNDs can be controlled through the redox reactions of PPy. Under an applied oxidation potential, conductive PPy exhibits several redox states carrying different charges, following the formation of polarons and bipolarons with different oxidation states. Combined with the asymmetric distribution of PPy in the AAO nanochannels, the UNDs investigated here exhibit redox-switchable ion rectification and ion-gating properties. The influence of the charge asymmetry of the UNDs on their ionic transport behavior is assessed by precisely controlling the length of oxidized PPy segments in the AAO nanochannels and by carrying out theoretical simulations based on the Poisson and Nernst–Planck (PNP) equations.


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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

Redox switch of ionic transport in conductive polypyrrole-engineered unipolar nanofluidic diodes

Show Author's information Qianqian Zhang1,2, Zhen Zhang3, Hangjian Zhou1, Zhiqiang Xie1,2, Liping Wen4, Zhaoyue Liu1( ), Jin Zhai1( ), Xungang Diao2
Key Laboratory of Bio-Inspired Smart Interfacial Science and Technology of Ministry of EducationBeijing Key Laboratory of Bio-inspired Energy Materials and DevicesSchool of Chemistry and Environment, Beihang UniversityBeijing100191China
School of Physics and Nuclear Energy EngineeringBeihang UniversityBeijing100191China
Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS)Key Laboratory of Green PrintingInstitute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing100190China
Laboratory of Bioinspired Smart Interfacial ScienceTechnical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing100190China

Abstract

Controlling ion transport in nanoconfined spaces is a key task for the creation of smart nanofluidic devices. In this work, redox-active polypyrrole (PPy) polymers are introduced into anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) nanochannels to form smart unipolar nanofluidic diodes (UNDs) for the first time. The ionic transport behavior of the present polypyrrole-engineered UNDs can be controlled through the redox reactions of PPy. Under an applied oxidation potential, conductive PPy exhibits several redox states carrying different charges, following the formation of polarons and bipolarons with different oxidation states. Combined with the asymmetric distribution of PPy in the AAO nanochannels, the UNDs investigated here exhibit redox-switchable ion rectification and ion-gating properties. The influence of the charge asymmetry of the UNDs on their ionic transport behavior is assessed by precisely controlling the length of oxidized PPy segments in the AAO nanochannels and by carrying out theoretical simulations based on the Poisson and Nernst–Planck (PNP) equations.

Keywords: polypyrrole, redox switch, nanofluidic diodes, ion rectification, ion gating

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Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 21 December 2016
Revised: 05 March 2017
Accepted: 12 March 2017
Published: 17 July 2017
Issue date: November 2017

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2017

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21571011, 21641006), National Basic Research Program of China (No. 2014CB931803), Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Nos. YWF-15-HHXY-019, YWF-16-JCTD-B-03) and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Grant (No. 2015M580035).

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